Watch the First 9 Minutes of Syfy’s ’12 Monkeys’ Series Premiere (VIDEO)

The 1995 movie 12 Monkeys earned Brad Pitt his very first Oscar nomination, a Best Supporting Actor nod for his role as fanatical mental patient Jeffrey Goines. The dystopian sci-fi film was well-received by critics, and has grown to become a cult classic over the past 20 years.

So why not try and make it a TV series?

That seems to be the thinking behind Syfy’s latest original drama, as 12 Monkeys is not only a reality, it’s just one more week away from premiering. The story centers on a man from the future named Cole (played by Bruce Willis in the original film, and by Aaron Stanford in the show) who is sent into the past to prevent a plague that ravages the population of his timeline.

The TV show retains that premise, but to what extent the series will follow the film is uncertain. What we do know is that the series premieres Friday, January 16 at 9/8c on Syfy, with limited commercial interruption. So Syfy wants to give this every shot at attracting as many eyeballs as possible. Case in point, the network has put up the first 9 minutes online. Without spoiling anything, it’s a pretty effective tease for what’s to come, and suggests what could be one of the first interesting shows of 2015.